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Here without a worry, dancing in our bare feet because when the summer’s done we might not be so young and beautiful.

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Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Black Cherry Fudge

This recipe begin as an experiment.

Having found fresh black cherry juice at the market, I began to search for

recipes including it as an ingredient. I found very few.

But the taste of the juice was so good, I just had to try to use it in a recipe,

especially with Valentine's Day on the calendar!

I started by working with my old tried and true "Never Fail" fudge recipe and adjusted the ingredients. While mixing the cherry and evaporated milk, the color turned a disappointing light brown, so I added red powdered food color. You can also use red liquid color until you reach a pink color. The color, while cooking, turned a very deep red; but by the time the other ingredients were added, it became a pleasant shade of pink.

The end result was a creamy, sweet fudge with a nice blend of tartness from the dried cherries. After tasting the mixture while cooking, I opted for the almond extract. I highly recommend using it to flavor the fudge. It really compliments the cherries.

Try it and let me know what you think!

Black Cherry Fudge

Ingredients

1/4 cup Black Cherry Juice

Evaporated Canned Milk

1-1/2 cups Granulated Sugar

2 Tablespoons Butter

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp Red powdered Food Coloring

1/2 tsp Vanilla or Almond Extract

1-1/2 cups (9 oz) White Chocolate chips

2 cups (4 oz) Mini-Marshmallows

3/4 cup Dried Cherries

1/2 cup Slivered Blanched Almonds

Instructions:

Begin by preparing an 8x8" pan by generously rubbing the bottom and sides with butter.

Chop cherries into fine pieces.

Mix together with slivered almonds in a small bowl; Set aside.

In a measuring cup, pour cherry juice to measure 1/4 cup.

Add evaporated canned milk to the cherry juice to measure 2/3 cup.

Stir in food color.

Pour into a 2 quart saucepan.

Add butter,sugar and salt; stirring continuously

over medium heat until mixture starts to boil.

When the mixture begins to boil, stir constantly for 6-8 minutes.

Remove from heat and quickly stir in vanilla or almond extract, mini-marshmallows,

and white chocolate chips until completely melted. Stir in cherries and almonds.